In commercial internal combustion engines, typically a piston moves in a stationary cylinder. It is also known that some internal combustion engines have a moving piston and cylinder, but in these engines the piston and cylinder completely separate during a portion of the combustion cycle. However, in the above described engines, energy is lost due to side loading of the cylinder which results in wear of the piston and cylinder. In the engine with separated piston and cylinder precise alignment must be maintained during a combustion cycle which increases the costs and complexity of the engine. As such, there is a need in the art for combustion engine that addresses the above drawbacks.
The invention provides such a combustion engine. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.